NL West: Will the Dodgers or D-backs win the NL West?

MANAGER: Joe Torre (2nd season)PAYROLL: $92 millionX-FACTOR: If Rafael Furcal's back cooperates, he should be the energizer at the top of the lineup he's always been.BEST CASE: Manny Ramirez threatens .400 for a full season as he tries to earn another new contract. Placid Joe Torre returns to the postseason for the 14th straight year overall. Clayton Kershaw takes that next step and joins Chad Billingsley at the top of the rotation. WORST CASE: Manny gets bored and starts acting like a bozo again. There's not enough proven pitching still here after the losses of Derek Lowe, Brad Penny and Takashi Saito. Anything happens to Jonathan Broxton and the ninth inning becomes a nightly adventure.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (72-90, 4th)MANAGER: Bruce Bochy (3rd season)PAYROLL: $90 million X-FACTOR: Some wonder if former Florida State catcher Buster Posey could reach the majors in his first full pro year. BEST CASE: Offense? Who needs offense with pitching like this? Edgar Renteria, whose two worst years have come in one-and-dones with Boston and Detroit, proves he's more of a National League player. Randy Johnson blows right past 300 wins and gives them a 30-start season at age 45. WORST CASE: All those early-career innings on the young arms in the rotation start to add up. Barry Zito simply isn't even going to come close to justifying that $126 million contract. Their popgun attack again fails to reach 100 homers for the season and defends its last-place finish in the majors.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS (82-80, 2nd)MANAGER: Bob Melvin (5th season)PAYROLL: $75 millionX-FACTOR: Highly touted RHP Max Scherzer could give Arizona quite a troika at the top of the rotation once he breaks through. BEST CASE: This is the year Stephen Drew and Justin Upton blow past their big brothers in terms of big-league production. Brandon Webb improves his win total for the fifth straight season, which won't be easy coming off a 22-win year. Well-traveled Felipe Lopez proves a suitable replacement for Orlando Hudson at second. WORST CASE: Blowing a 4½-game lead with 28 games to play last year shows a lingering effect on a young roster. Anointed closer Chad Qualls can't improve on his career .429 save-conversion rate. That three-year, $30 million deal for oft-injured Eric Byrnes just keeps looking worse and worse.

COLORADO ROCKIES (74-88, 3rd)MANAGER: Clint Hurdle (8th season)PAYROLL: $74 million X-FACTOR: Speedy CF Dexter Fowler could take over a starting spot, along with hitting leadoff, by the end of May. BEST CASE: SS Troy Tulowitzki bounces back from a disappointing sophomore slump to reclaim his cult status. Aaron Cook's heavy sinker allows him to build on last year's 16-win breakthrough. Even with Matt Holliday gone, there's still enough talent here to make a run at a second NL West crown in three years. WORST CASE: Losing LHP Jeff Francis for the year to shoulder surgery proves too much for the rotation to overcome. Rumors of Todd Helton's comeback from back surgery prove too rosy at age 35. They start slowly again and Hurdle finds himself on the firing line.

SAN DIEGO PADRES (63-99, 5th)MANAGER: Bud Black (3rd season)PAYROLL: $50 million X-FACTOR: They are counting on young catcher Nick Hundley, but his average dropped significantly each year after he moved up from Class A. BEST CASE: New owner Jeff Moorad gets things moving in the right direction again after the messy demise of John Moores. They go ahead and dump Jake Peavy and Brian Giles for a boatload of young talent in July. Kevin Towers keeps scanning the waiver wires and adding pieces for the future. WORST CASE: Baseball's 29th-ranked farm system doesn't produce nearly enough replacement parts to avoid a 100-loss embarrassment. Another year of Adrian Gonzalez's prime gets wasted playing for his hometown nine. Life after Trevor Time means lots of blown saves.